


Californurama

by ToothPasteCanyon (DannyFenton123)



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Transcendence (Gravity Falls), Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 13:23:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14113263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DannyFenton123/pseuds/ToothPasteCanyon
Summary: After searching around in his hat, Alcor finds nothing less than half of California sitting near the bottom, sealed in time stasis. Whoops. After being trapped for thousands of years, their residents may be less than appreciative of his mistake. Kate and Jay are thrown far into the future, and must learn to adapt to this new world they've found themselves in.





	Californurama

                “Yes, Mom, we’re off the plane. We’re in the hotel now.” Jay paced around the room, her phone held up to her ear. “No, there’s no bedbugs. We checked. We- what?”

                Kate was sitting on the bed nearby, snickering as Jay listened. Jay turned around and stuck her tongue out at her, then cleared her throat.

                “No, Mom, we haven’t seen anything like that. That’s a bit more up in Oregon than in California, anyway.” She smiled. “Yeah, we’re planning to get up early tomorrow and bike across the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s gonna be awesome. We will. I love you too. Goodnight!”

                She clicked off. Kate sat up.

                “What’s more up in Oregon than California?”

                “Transcendence stuff. My mom was asking if I’d seen anything magical on the plane.”

                “You should have told her about the magically loud baby sitting behind us.”

                Jay snorted. “Yeah, I guess I should’ve.”

                She sat down next to Kate, who looked up at her smiled.

                “Hey.”

                “Hey.”

                They leaned in for a kiss. Jay put her hand around Kate’s shoulder, and the two of them sank back onto the sheets, holding each other. When they pulled apart, Jay was laughing.

                Kate raised an eyebrow. “What’cha laughing about?”

                “Magically loud babies. You’re ridiculous.”

                “Hey, it’s true! There’s no way something that small can have lungs that big.”

                She chuckled a little more, but it died off as she heard something. Something thin and sharp, something quiet, but growing steadily louder.

                Kate noticed it too, and sat up. “What the hell is that?”

                “AC?”

                “I’ve never heard the AC sound like that.” She rubbed her ear. “Ugh, it’s getting louder.”

                Jay frowned. “Maybe it’s the fire alarm?”

                Kate looked back at her, worry shining in her eyes. “It… could be that.”

                “What do we do?” Jay watched her walk into the bathroom. “Wait, where are you going?”

                Kate said something, but the sound was so loud now she didn’t catch it. “What!”

                “Getting my clothes! You should too!”

                Jay stood up, covering her ears and awkwardly trying to pick up her shirt with her elbows. She uncovered one of her ears and instantly regretted it; the deafening sound was like something halfway between nails-on-a-chalkboard and a fly buzzing too close to her ear. It sounded nothing like any fire alarm she’d ever heard in her life.

                She stood up, and noticed something was glowing behind the hotel curtains. An eerie blue light was streaming into the room.

                Jay used her elbow to brush them aside. She squinted at the sudden flash of light, and then opened them wide. That… that was a mushroom cloud. A glowing blue mushroom cloud. Outside her hotel window. Growing bigger. Wider.

Coming for her.

                “Kate?” Jay shouted, but it was so loud now she wasn’t sure if she heard. The cloud was so big, so bright, it was like watching everything in slow motion; she knew she was way too close, she knew she might actually die, but it almost didn’t seem like it was moving at all. The ghostly blue light at the top inched higher into the sky as she watched, and the pressure wave creeped towards her, growing bigger, faster, bigger, faster…

                “Jay!” A weight on her back. Somebody tackled her to the ground...

                And then there was no time at all.

 

* * *

 

                The sound was gone. Jay slowly blinked open her eyes to see the carpet floor. Kate’s arms were wrapped tightly around her chest, and she could feel her heavy breathing. In and out and in and out and in and out, in time with her own.

                The sound was gone, but they dared not move. They breathed: in, and out and in, and out and in, and out and in.

                Jay’s nose was itchy. She reached up to scratch it, and Kate shifted a little to let her. Kate held her breath: in… and then out with a sigh. “Holy shit. Are you okay?”

                “I’m okay. You?”

                “I’m alive.” She laughed a little as she sat up. “A lot less blown up than I expected, so that’s good, right?”

                Jay looked around. Their clothes were still strewn about the floor, her phone was lying on her bed – she picked that up – a glass of ice water was still sitting on the counter. It was all much less blown up than she’d expected; if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have ever suspected some atomic bomb-shaped mushroom cloud had been rising outside her window just seconds ago.

                Her window…

                “Kate, look.”

                “What?” Kate turned. When she saw light was still streaming through the window, she sped over to see. “Whoa.”

                “What is it?”

                “It’s daytime, Jay.”

                “Dayt-? But it was the middle of the night!”

                “I mean, come and see for yourself.”

                Jay hurried to join her. When she looked out of the window, she saw the sun high in the sky, beating down on the undestroyed city of San Francisco below.

                “I don’t know what the hell just happened, but it’s daytime now.” Kate paused. “I’m going outside.”

                “What? Why?”

                “I just want to see.”

                “See what?” Jay watched her disappear outside. “Wait! See what?”

                She grabbed a keycard and ran out into the hallway, where she could see Kate talking with a man in his pyjamas.

                “-so I’m not going crazy, right? You saw it too?”

                Kate nodded. “Yeah, I saw it. What’d you think it is?”

                “Haven’t the foggiest idea, man. I heard a noise, like ‘eeeeeeeee’ and then it was like, uh, ‘EEEEEEE’ and I looked outside and-“ He noticed Jay, and waved her over. “Hey, kid! Did you see that thing outside?”

                “That’s my wife.” Kate said. “She saw it too.”

                “Oh. You two going downstairs?”

                “Yeah. You coming?”

                “Nah, man, this is freaking me out.” He crossed his arms. “What if it comes again?”

                Jay nodded. “Yeah, K. What if it comes again? I think we should stay here.”

                “On the 30th floor of a building?”

                “That’s… I didn’t think of that.”

                Kate started walking away. “I’m gonna take the stairs, in case the elevator is busted.”

                Jay followed. Behind them, the man called out, “Hey, be safe! Remember: duck and cover! Like the turtle guy!”

               

* * *

 

                They made it down ten flights of stairs before Kate made for the door. Jay frowned.

                “What…” She wheezed. “are you… doing?”

                “I’m not… walking down another… bloody flight… of stairs. I’m taking the elevator!”

                She opened the door, stuck her head in, and then closed it and backed away.

                “Nevermind. Stairs are fine.”

                “What’s wrong?”

                “The entire floor is trying to fit in two tiny elevators.” Kate shook her head. “I dunno about you, but I’d rather not get trampled.”

                “Oh. Good idea.”

                After a few minutes, they finally made it to the bottom, huffing and puffing. The front desk waved them over.

Talking in a very fast voice, she said, “Hi police have been notified and are investigating the source of the disturbance and everyone is advised to remain calm and stay inside to prevent-“ With a ding, the elevator opened. About twenty people in various stages of undress ran screaming for the front door, and the receptionist groaned. “Or do that. Yeah, why should anyone listen to me? It’s not like I have actual information from the actual police or anything.”

                Jay blinked. “So we should stay inside?”

                “Yeah, that’s what they want you to do.” She motioned to the elevator. “Thanks to the geniuses trying to walk out, you’re probably not getting back up to your room, but there is a TV in the lounge. My manager would probably want me to tell you we have over two hundred channels.”

                “Can we do anything to help?”

                She shrugged. “Thanks, but I’m just trying to get everyone to stay inside until my manager gets back. I don’t really have anything but that.”

                At that moment the elevators opened again, and another mob of people started booking it towards the door. Kate stepped in front of them, hands out.

                “Everybody, remain calm!” She announced, and they slowed. “The police have been notified. They are investigating the source of the disturbance. In the meantime, they recommend that you stay inside. You can take the stairs back up to your rooms, or you can wait here in the lobby.”

“How long do we have to wait?”

“Are the airports closed?”

“What do they say caused that huge explosion? It looked like a nuclear bomb!”

                Everybody gasped and whispered among themselves. Parents held their children a little tighter. Kate frowned.

                “I understand you’re all frightened. The police are investigating the disturbance, and they will notify us as soon as they have more information. In the meantime, please remain calm and stay indoors. Thank you.”

                People started to disperse. Some people went over to the stairs, whilst others led their children over to the lounge and started flipping through channels. One person went out the door, and Kate rolled her eyes.

                “Well, so much for that.”

                “So much for that?” The receptionist gaped at her. “Are you kidding? I haven’t gotten a single person to stay inside until you came along! That was amazing!”

                “Oh, thanks.” The elevator dinged. “Do you want me to do these guys too?”

                “Yes! Yes, please, if you can.”

                Kate gave her the thumbs up and marched on over. Jay, standing somewhat awkwardly by the desk, looked around. By the TV, two families huddled together, watching TV static. People were shouting questions at Kate; nearby, somebody frowned and plugged his ears as he tried to make a call. There was a man sitting on the fountain in front of the front door, head in his hands, crying.

                And then it hit Jay, all of a sudden. This was serious. This was happening.

                _Wow._

                And then: she needed to call her mum. Right now. With a sudden panic, Jay fumbled for her phone… phone… shit. She’d left it in the hotel!

                “Hey.” Jay half-reached for the front desk’s phone before she stopped. “Can I… um, can I use this?”

                “Oh, of course!”

                She pushed the phone towards Jay, who began punching in her mother’s number. She held it up to her ear…

                _The number you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later._

                Well. Maybe she put it in wrong? Going slowly, she made sure to press every individual number. She held it up to her ear…

                _The number you are trying to reach is-_

                Jay put the phone down.

                “Is something wrong with the phone lines?”

                “Yeah. It’s not dialing my mum.”

                “That’s strange.” The receptionist took out her phone. “It says ‘no service’ on mine too.”

                Jay made a face. “Must be system wide. I really hope I can call her soon.”

                “Cell phones are down?” Another person wandered up to the desk, looking pale and anxious. “How long are they down for?”

                “I’m not sure, sir-“

                “Well, can you give us an estimate? This thing ends up on the news, I’ve gotta call my daughter and let her know I’m okay.”

                “Again, I’m really not sure…”

                “Is there anything you can tell me?”

                Jay backed away from the conversation. She looked over at Kate, still corralling guests away from the front door. She noticed the man still crying by the fountain, alone. Poor guy.

                She took a deep breath and walked towards him. “Hey… are you okay?”

                He briefly looked up at her before shaking his head. “We’re all gonna die. It’s happening. We’re all gonna die, we’re all gonna die and I’m thousands of miles from… from anyone! I’m gonna die all alone.”

                “Hey, hey.” Jay sat down next to him. She hovered a hand above his back. “It’s gonna… you’re not alone. I’m here.”

                “I just want to say goodbye, b-but my phone isn’t working, it’s not letting me.” He poked at his phone. “The last thing I texted her was about stupid groceries. I didn’t even tell her I love her!”

                “I know buddy, I know.”

                He didn’t say anything else. Jay finally worked up the courage to pat him on the back, though she wasn’t sure whether it was helping or not; he kept sobbing into his hands and typing out increasingly nonsensical messages that kept turning up unsent.

                This was her day, Jay thought. She came for a vacation, and now she was comforting strangers during the end of the world.


End file.
